♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we begin with another mass grave in ukraine. authorities say it was found in the city of izyum after it was liberated from russian control. media reports say more than 440 bodies were marked with simple wooden crosses. they say some of the people were killed by shelling and air strikes. ukraine's president responded

sharply to the discovery in a video address. >> translator: we want the world to know what is really happening and what the russian occupation has led to in bucha, mariupol. now, unfortunately, in izyum, russia is leaving death behind everywhere and must be held responsible. >> zelenskyy met with the president of the european commission in kyiv on thursday. ukraine's presidential office says he told ursula von der leyen the recent counteroffensive has been effective and liberated many communities. he called it a big victory. but a russian spokesperson says it's becoming more urgent for moscow to achieve its military objectives. observers say that suggests russia may intensify its attacks. in the u.s., the government is stepping up sanctions. secretary of state antony blinken says dozens of people

and entities have been added as the targets of sanctions. he says five are people involved in the theft of hundreds of thousands of tons of ukrainian grain. meanwhile, american researchers have released a report on how the invasion has impacted ukraine's grain industry. the report analyzed satellite images and determined 15% of ukraine's storage capacity for crops has been affected since the invasion began. the international atomic energy agency's board has adopted a resolution calling on russia to end the occupation of the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in ukraine. the board passed it by a majority vote on thursday. it calls on russia to immediately cease all actions against the plant. reuters news agency reports russia and china oppose the resolution and that seven asian and african untries abstained. the iaea has proposed

establishing a security protection zone around nuclear facilities. this comes after a series of artillery attacks caus the temporary loss of external power at the plant. iaea director general rafael grossi has eressed concerns. he sayalthough shelling ha stopped near the plant recently, it continues in other areas. the russian mission to the iaea claims the shelling is being carried out by ukraine, which is supported by western countries. russian president vladimir putin admits china has doubts over his country's invasion of ukraine. but he says he hopes xi jinping understands his side after the two leaders met in uzbekistan. they're attending the shanghai cooperation organization summit. it's an economic and security group involving asian countries with close ties to moscow and beijing.

putin says china has been skeptical about russia's recent moves, but he says he appreciates the country's support. >> translator: we greatly value the balanced position of our chinese friends when it comes to the ukraine crisis. we understand your questions and concerns about this. we will, of course, explain our position. >> despite pressure from western leaders, china has neither condemned nor sanctioned russia. xi has also been careful to avoid giving open support for the invasion. however, he did have friendly words for putin. >> translator: in the face of changes in the world, times, and history, china is willing to work with russia to demonstrate the responsibility of a major country, play a leading role, and inject stability in the turbulent world. >> xi said china and russia need to work together to safeguard the interests of developing

countries and emerging markets. for more on this, we spoke with our china correspondent nakamura gena. >> again, xi has expressed concerns. what are these? >> as you mentioned, xi has been treading very carefully. he wants putin as a partner but might be questioning whether russia is in over its head in ukraine. it's been almost seven months since the invasion started. russia's military appears to be suffering major setbacks. the western sanctions against russia are potentially toxic for china's economy, especially if the west sees beijing helping moscow too closely. putin likely tried to waylay china's fears. at the meeting, we did hear xi called for closer ties with moscow, especially in trade and agriculture.

there was also no sign china intends to stop buying russian oil and gas. obviously, much of the talks are happening behind closed doors. from what we did hear, xi voiced support for russia but was careful not to mention ukraine by name. there's no sign china is willing to offer military help, but right now beijing and moscow appear closer than ever. >> what is it that china's leader was hoping to get out of the summit meetings? >> this is a really important time for him to look strong. the communist party's national congress is fast approaching, and xi is seeking an unprecedented third term as leader. this meeting gave him the chance to receive vocal support from putin on taiwan, a very important issue back in china. the russian leader echoed beijing's narrative that the u.s. has been provocative in its support for taipei.

this was also xi's first trip outside the country since the pandemic began. people in china are growing impatient with the zero covid policy and its economic impact. this is an opportunity for xi to talk trade with other leaders and show a return to prepandemic diplomacy. he's also meeting with indian prime minister narendra modi. xi and modi have been playing a balancing act with the west and russia since the war in ukraine began. this meeting may give them a chance to find some common ground. so all eyes on how russia and china get along. but this is also a big moment for xi to grow his influence on other countries as well as back home. japan's cabinet has

officially decided emperor naruhito and empress massco will attend the funeral of queen elizabeth ii. the occasion will be the couple's first overseas travel since the emperor ascended t throne in2019. the sov rips rarely attend funerals, especially those abroad. the decision reflects the close relations between the two families for generations. the only precedent is when emperor attended the state funeral of belgian's king in 1993 during their reign. in london, nine bridges spanning the river thames were illuminated in purple on thursday in memory of the queen. she often wore the color in her later years. people formed a long line along the river to pay their final respects. the body of the late queen is lying in state at westminster hall.

>> i think it's lovely. i think it's showing that the whole country, especially the city, kind of just wants to remember her. >> the nighttime illumination will run through monday. nhk has learned tokyo prosecutors have questioned the former president of the japanese olympic committee about sponsorship contracts for the 2020 games. it's related to a bribery scandal over the tokyo olympics and paralympics. sources tell nhk that takeda tsunakazu was questioned on a voluntary basis. takeda was vice chair of the tokyo organizing games. takahashi haruyuki became a member of the committee's board during that time. prosecutors have already arrested and indicted takahashi is bribery charges.

they say he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from clothing retailer aoki holdings in exchange for helping it become a sponsor of the games. prosecutors suspect takahashi also took money from the publishing firm kadokawa. the sources say prosecutors asked takeda how takahashi became a board member and how much authority he had on the organizing committee. takeda told nhk through his lawyer that he cannot comment on the matter. japan's government has been ordered to pay damages over the death of a man from cameroon at an immigration center. it happened in 2014 while he was being detained. the mito district court ordered the government to pay about $11,000 to the man's mother. the 43-year-old died while being held for ignoring an order to leave japan. it happened at the higashi-nihon

immigration center ibaraki prefecture north of too. his mother sued the government for failing to give him proper medical treatment even though he had asked for help. the government had called for the case to be dismissed. it claimed staff could not determine if the man needed to go to the hospital because they lacked the expertise. the court said they failed to rush him to hospital, which constituted negligence. immigration officials have faced criticism over the treatment of foreigners in detention centers. last year, a sri lankan woman died at a facility in aichi prefecture. her family also sued the government for not giving her sufficient medical help. ♪

a group of japanese researchers is receiving some unusual recognition for one of their projects. they won an ig nobel prize on thursday, an award for trivial achievements in scientific research. >> the engineering prize -- ♪ >> professor matsui zach i can is part of a team at chiba institute of technology near tokyo. they published research examining how many fingers use when turning knobs of various sizes. they used 45 knobs, including the cap of a plastic bottle and one for controlling volume. their conclusion, people decide the number of fingers they use depending on the size of the knob. the study is being recognized for taking up the challenge of exploring the efficient way to

turn a kb. >> i'm honored to receive this wonderful award. in the field of design, there are many researchers researching unconscious human behavior. i hope more designers will receive this award. thank you very much. >> the ig nobel is a play on the word i guess noble, the opposite of noble. the awards were started in 1991 by a u.s. science journal. weather officials say a powerful typhoon is likely approach japan's southwestern kyushu region during the upcoming long weekend. the meteorological agency is urging residents in wide areas of the archipelago to be on high alert for possible disasters triggered by violent winds and heavy rain. officials say nanmadol was moving west-northwest over the pacific ocean south of japan as

of friday noon. the typhoon is packing winds up to 160 kilometers per hour near its center with peak gusts near more than 200 kilometers per hour. >> translator: please refrain from going out unnecessarily in areas where the typhoon is approaching or heavy rainfall is expected. >> the storm is expected to track close to okinawa prefecture and the amami region of kagoshima prefecture through saturday. on sunday it's likely to approach kyushu. rainfall in the 24our period through sunday noon could reach up to 500 millimeters in southern kyushu and up to 300 millimeters in amami, northern kyushu, shikoku, kansai, and tokai. strong winds are also expected in okinawa and southern kyushu through saturday. officials say the winds are expected to get even stronger on sunday.

seas will also be quite rough. 10 meter high waves are expected on saturday. for more on the approaching typhoon, we turn to our meteorologist sayaka mori for the details. >> a big and potent typhoon is expected to pound many places of japan during a three-day holiday. do be prepared for the storm. it's going to be a very dangerous storm. the name of the system is namadol. it's categorized as large and very strong. very strong means it's the second strongest scale on the typhoon scale. the system is expected to move northward and could approach the southwestern islands of japan into saturday, and then stay near kyushu for a while and then change the course towards the north and east as we go into sunday. it could make landfall in kyushu as a very strong typhoon and it could become one of the ten strongest typhoons to strike japan in recorded history.

and then move across japan or move over the sea of japan as we go into monday and tuesday, while weakening. and then as a low pressure system, it should reach parts of hokkaido. the system is expected to bring gusts of over 250 kilometers per hour, strong enough to topple trees and damage homes, as we go into sunday. and then precipitation-wise, we might see nearly 650 millimeters of rain in two days or so. record-breaking heavy rain could pound western japan, so flooding and landslides will be a high risk out there. kagoshima could see high risk. the same effect could bring very high temperatures to niigata on your sunday. now, before we go, a completely different story, but take a look at this video from hokkaido. the first fall foliage of the year in japan is appearing in the mountains of hokkaido. on thursday, cameras captured

the color changes. many came to see the first shades of red with drier weather bringing beautiful blue skies in contrast to the foliage. that's it for me. stay safe. that's all for this hour on nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. thanks for watching and do stay

with us for more. xxxx ♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm gene otani. key indicators out of china show the economy made a moderate recovery last month but covid-related restrictions weighed on activity. the national bureau of statistics says retail sales rose 5.4% in august from a year earlier. that was up 2.7 percentage points from july. strong sales were recorded at auto dealerships and

restaurants. industrial production grew 4.2% from last august and was up 0.4 of a point from the previous month. automakers increased output, but at a slower pace. power shortages suspended operations at some factories in sichuan and other inland provinces. development from january to august declined 7.4% from the same period last year. the size of the decline widened by one point from the period to july. this indicated a prolonged slump in china's property industry. when a massive earthquake hit northeastern japan in march 2011, the shaking was felt far from the epicenter. many sky scrapers in tokyo experienced what is known as long period ground motion. construction companies are now working on methods to reduce the damage this can cause. major construction firm

conducted a test on a model skyscraper. a vibration reduction system was installed in the upper floors. this is a departure from the more traditional approach of placing dampers between the building and its underground foundation. engineers say the swing on the upper floors was reduced by 30 compared to a model without the system. they say the movement of the entire building was also less. the technology is already being applied. it would be used in a 43-story building set to open in tokyo in february 2025. a railway operator on japan's southwestern island of kyushu has unveiled a new sight-seeing train. kyushu railway calls the train service 4047. that means two stars in japanese. the company says it's a reference to the attractiveness of the prefectures of asaga and nagasaki that the train will

travel through. the service starts next friday to coincide with the launch of awe new bullet line train in kyushu. the first of the three carriages of the three-car train will be for reserved seats. the middle car will have sofas and a counter where passengers can enjoy meals while watching the scenery go by. >> translator: with this train, we would like people to enjoy local foods, hot springs, all sorts of things. >> the service will run once a day on two routes from friday through monday. the founder of u.s. outdoor apparel and equipment maker patagonia says he is donating all of his shares in the company to fight climate change. the stocks owned by von chig nard and his family are worth $3 billion. his announcement says 98% of the shares have been transferred to a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the

environment. 2% have been entrusted to a new entity to protect patagonia's values. company officials say he had initially considered taking patagonia public or selling it and donating all the proceeds. but he said he wasn't confident that a new owner would maintain patagonia's values. he said, quote, earth is now our only shareholder. he said he wanted to find a way to put more money into fighting the climate crisis while keeping the company's values intact. higher borrowing costs in the united states are fueling concern that people may put off home purchases and dampen the economy. the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose above 6% for the first time since november 2008. the u.s. government linked federal home loan mortgage corporation says the average rate for the week until september 15th stood at 6.02%.

that was a jump of more than 3 percentage points from a year earlier. long-term interest rates have been increasing in the u.s. on the back of speculation the federal reserve would keep raising its key rate. the 30-year mortgage rate started to fall in march 2020 after the fed decided to take massive monetary easing measures on the back of the coronavirus pandemic. they fell to as low as 2.65% in january last year. the fed changed its policy in march this year and raised interest rates. this led lenders to increase their rates. the sharp rise in borrowing costs is seen as having a potentially negative effect on the u.s. economy. let's see what's happening in the week ahead. we start with japan's latest inflation numbers and contrasting policy stances by two of the world's biggest central banks.

japan's consumer prices for august are due out on tuesday. the cpi excluding fresh food climbed 2.4% in july compared to the same month last year. the bank of japan has set an inflation target of 2% to pull the country out of deflation. the cpi has exceeded the target for four straight months as prices remain on an uptrend for 11 months. the internal affairs ministry said a major factor was soaring energy costs. it added that commodity prices are rising as a weaker yen makes imports more expensive. the u.s. federal reserve will wrap up a two-day meeting on wednesday. the fed raised its benchmark interest rate again by three-quarters of a percentage point in july in a bid to control inflation. that was the fourth hike in five months. some experts say the tighter policy is beginning to weigh on consumer spending and other economic activities.

chair jerome powell said officials won't hesitate to curb inflation hardening the belief that they will deliver a third straight jumbo rate hike later this month. those expectations were reinforced by cpi numbers released tuesday that came in higher than expected. the bank of japan's meeting wraps up the following day. the central bank said in july prices will gain 2.3% in the current fiscal year up from its previous outlook of 1.9%. the revised figure is above the boj's long-held target of 2%. even so, it decided to maintain its massive easing policy, citing the need to encourage wage hikes and growth and demand. the policy involves keeping the short-term benchmark rate negative and continuing unlimited purchases of government bonds to hold long-term rates at around 0%. later in the week we'll hear from a country that has been the

focus due to the drop of its own currency. central bankers in turkey will announce their policy on thursday. they cut a key rate by 100 basis points to 13% in august in line with the direction of president recapper ed began who doesn't follow the global trend of hikes. he plans to keep interest rates until election 2023. he wants to keep borrowing costs low in order to stimulate the economy and believes raising rates will increase rather than suppress inflation. but repeated rate cuts triggered a 44% drop in the lira against the dollar last year, stoking inflation through imports. the currency has lost a further 27% so far this year while inflation hit a 24-year high of over 80% in august. on the same day, the u.s. commerce department will release its current account balance for the april-to-june quarter.

its deficit jumped about 30% to a record high of nearly $300 billion in the january-to-march period. that was amid a surge in imports as businesses replenished imports to meet strong domestic demand. the deficit was 8.4% gdp, the largest since 2008. it was up from 3.7% the previous period. all right. let's have a look at the markets.

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thanks for being with us. 73ú3ú+ú+ú+ú+ú+ú+ú

their money by force. >> this is al jazeera and these are your top stories. thousands of armenians are protesting against prime minister nikol pashinyan after more than 100 soldiers were killed in renewed fighting with as a vision, accusing him of betraying the country after he said he would sign a peace deal to ensure security. >> i officially state that no paper has been signed. moreover, no paper is going to be signed. there is no talk about any